Missing
by Animejessi
Summary: Izaya has been missing for a week now. No one knows what happened to him or where he could be. What happens when Namie gets a package and Shizuo finds Izaya chained up in an abandoned warehouse?
1. Missing

**With encouragement from God Of Twilight, I have decided to put up my multi-chapter story of Izaya and Namie. I hope you like it and that it doesn't disappoint. It would be awful if you ended up not liking it after I put it up there for you. :) Also, for those still waiting for the next chapter of Trapped, don't worry I will post isn't a new chapter this week!**

**Enjoy the story and leave a review on your way out!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara!**

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Izaya hadn't been in the office for a whole week now, and Namie was getting irritated. No Izaya meant no updates on her brother's whereabouts and no paycheck. That did not sit well with Namie at all. Not only was he not answering her calls, but he was also ignoring her texts and emails as well.

Something just wasn't right.

Izaya always answered his cell phone with either a text or a call. He liked to be well informed at all times and his phone helped with that. It was unusual for Namie to not be able to get a hold of Izaya. He always answered when she called, if only to annoy her. He wouldn't just ignore her. He enjoyed taunting her way too much for that.

She hated to admit it but she was starting to worry, and that irritated her more than anything else.

Why did she care if he was okay or not? What did it matter to her if he hasn't been home in a while? Why should she worry for that insane, self-centered, delusional, twisted maniac that was her boss, anyway? She should only be concerned for the wellbeing of Seiji, so why was she standing here worrying about Izaya?

Namie didn't have an answer to any of those questions and it was driving her crazy.

Her thoughts continued in a similar fashion for a while until she heard a knock at the door.

Strange.

She hadn't been expecting anyone. She had canceled all of Izaya's appointments for the week due to his untimely absence.

Well, nothing to do but open the door and see who it is. With any luck, her precious Seiji could be visiting her. Highly doubtful, but still a slight possibility.

When Namie opened the door, she was disappointed to find, not her brother, but some delivery guy holding a rather long package with a smile.

The man wore a stunned look, and had a slight blush on his face as he stared at her for a very long minute. He thought she was beautiful, and she was, of course, but she didn't appreciate the staring. It irritated her.

When the man finally managed to compose himself enough to speak he said, "Excuse me Miss, but are you perhaps, the secretary of Izaya Orihara?"

"Yes, I am. What do you want?" Namie replied with her usual bored expression, hiding her irritation quite well. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so she could begin to locate her much despised boss.

The man continued to stare at her for a while longer, seemingly trying to find something intelligent to say. Coming up with nothing, he decided to just do what he came here for.

"Um, uh... we got this package addressed to the secretary of Izaya Orihara. I need you to sign this form and take it."

A package? Who would be sending her a package? Not very many people knew she was living here. And those who did know certainly wouldn't have a need to send her anything.

"Does it say who it's from?" Namie questioned the young man as she flipped her dark brown hair absentmindedly.

The man looked the package over before replying, "No, there's no return address or a name on the box at all. It just has your address and 'to the secretary of Izaya Orihara' on it.

The man looked at her, only to look down again as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"All I know is that the box appeared at the post office earlier today with instructions to deliver it at 2:00 today," the man looked back up at Namie, who was scowling at him now, and continued, "They even paid extra to make sure you got it on time. Well, are you going to take the box or not?"

Namie gave the man a hard glare and he flinched away from her. She looked back at the box suspiciously and decided that she might as well take the stupid thing.

She took the box and form from the now terrified man and signed the form as she sighed loudly.

She handed the paper to the delivery guy and asked him one last question before shutting the door, "Do you at least know what is in this thing?" She indicated toward the box by lifting it.

The man outside her door gave her a sheepish smile before saying, "Afraid not, but whatever is in it is starting to leak so I would hurry and open it if I were you."

The man waved at Namie as he left and she watched him go until he turned around the corner. Finally she went back inside the empty apartment and put the object in her hands on top of the counter, slightly pacing in front of it.

'That took longer than I would've liked,' she thought, 'though I suppose that was partly my fault.' Namie looked back at the box and noticed something odd.

The box WAS leaking, just like the man had said.

The bottom of it was starting to crumple like paper would when in contact with a liquid. That made her even more curious about the contents of this peculiar package.

Namie walked back toward the counter and examined the item further. In doing so, she realized that the box was gaining a pinkish tint to it.

"Weird. What could be in this thing anyway?" Namie questioned as she opened the box.

What she saw chilled her down to the bone and caused her heart to stop completely.


	2. Suspicion

**Here is chapter 2. Since I already have it written, I have decided to post it. I hope you like it and review!**

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Namie was filled with an overwhelming sensation of terror. The sight made her sick to her stomach.

In the long box, there was a bloody arm.

Who could do something like that? What sick person would cut off someone's arm and send it to her? Namie put her hand to her mouth to keep the bile down. Suddenly, a horrifying revelation came to her.

She knew that arm. She knew who it belonged to.

Tears came to her eyes as she realized its owner.

That ring on the index finger. That smooth, pearly white skin. That familiar fur on the bottom of the sleeve.

This was Izaya's arm.

Someone had cut off Izaya's arm and sent it to her. Namie could only think of one person who hated Izaya enough to do that to him.

Shizuo.

Namie couldn't hold the tears back any longer and they ran down her pretty face in streams. She sank to her knees and cried for what felt like hours.

She didn't know what to do in a situation like this. She didn't know where Izaya was and for all she knew, he could be bleeding to death somewhere.

Or worse, Izaya could be dead.

After a few more minutes, Namie calmed herself down and got up off the floor, wiping her face.

She should go to Shinra. Maybe he knew something about it. If Shizuo had anything to do with it, surely Shinra would know about it.

And Shizuo would pay.

With that in mind, Namie put the lid back on the box and brought it with her as she ran to Shinra's house. Her eyes now filled with determination rather than the tears that previously occupied them.

She was going to interrogate Shirna and hopefully he would have some answers for her. If not, then she would just have to find Izaya with or without the help of Shirna and that abomination he is so captivated by.

When she got to Shinra's, she repeatedly banged on the door until Celty came and answered it with what, if she had face you could see, would be an exasperated look.

"Where is Shinra?" Namie said as she pushed her way into the apartment.

[What's wrong? Why are you here?] Celty typed quickly and shoved it into Namie's face before she could further into the apartment.

Namie shoved the PDA away from her face and scowled at Celty viciously. "Where. Is. Shinra?"

Celty took a step back. Namie was usually a very calm, stoic person. Celty had never see her so angry about anything before. Something must be really wrong for Namie to show up here looking this mad.

[Is everything okay?] Celty typed out after she recovered her bearings.

"No, everything is not alright," Namie's voice became very cold and dangerously low, "I need to talk to Shinra. Now. It's very important."

Namie took another step into the apartment before she heard Shinra's frantic voice, "I'm here, I'm here! No need to be so pushy. You wanted to talk to me?"

Shinra was sitter at the kitchen table and as soon as Namie caught sight of him, she made a beeline all the way to him and slammed the box on the table in front of him. Celty following close behind.

Namie glared suspiciously at Shinra, practically shoving her face into his and snarled, "Do you know what this is?"

Shinra leaned back away from Namie and eyed the object placed before him, "Um, it's a box? It appears to be leaking though. What's in this thing anyway?"

"You mean you don't know?" Namie asked as moved her face away from Shinra's, her expression tired and slightly confused.

'If Shinra doesn't know anything about it then Shizuo probably had nothing to do with it. That means someone else is behind it,' Namie's expression changed from being tired to being scared, 'Izaya's really in trouble isn't he?'

"No, should I?" He asked. Shinra didn't understand what was happening. First, Namie was angry and now, she seemed tired and... scared?

"Of course you don't know," Namie said in an almost broken voice as she sat down across from Shinra and put her face in her hands. What was she going to do now? How was she going to find out who sent her Izaya's arm? What if he's already dead.

Shirna stood up and walked to Namie's side of the table. He slowly put his hand in her shoulder and asked, "Namie, what's wrong? What's in the box?"

Namie didn't answer him. Instead, she took her face out of her hands and reached for the box. Her hands trembled as she brought is closer to herself and she could feel tears coming as she cautiously took the lid off of the item in her hands. When the lid was fully off she heard Shinra gasp and saw Celty step back from the corner of her eye.

"It's Izaya's." Namie said with as even a voice as she could manage, "I received it this afternoon from some delivery guy. I came here because I thought you might know something. I thought… I thought it might have been Shizuo. He's always hated Izaya." Her voice cracked as she spoke.

"Who was it sent from?" Shinra spoke quietly after a long pause. 'Izaya, what have you gotten yourself into?' He thought solemnly.

"I don't know," The tears that had built up slowly cascaded down Namie's face and she stifled a sob, "there was no return address or a name on the package at all. Just… just Izaya's address."

Shinra would a rare serious expression on his face and started walking toward his phone.

"I'm going to make a few calls to see if anyone knows something. Don't worry, we'll find out who did this."


	3. Desperation

**Okay, Chapter 3 is now here. I couldn't really think of a better name for this chapter so I just named it Desperation. I need some way of differentiating the chapters from each other, right? So yeah, enjoy and review!**

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Shinra did just as he said and more. He called Kadota and his gang, Simon, Tom, Kururi and Mairu (which was probably a mistake), some underground connections, and even Shizuo. None of them knew anything about it so instead, Shinra asked them for their help finding Izaya (expect for the underground connections, of course. Who knew what they would do to Izaya if they found him.) He also neglected to ask Kururi and Mairu for fear of worrying them. Everyone else agreed to help, including Shizuo albeit reluctantly and let's not even mention the persuading it took.

Namie called a few of her connections for any information about Izaya, as well, but she just reached a dead end. No one knew what had happened and that scared her.

Shinra noticed Namie's darkening expression and put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, "I'll send Celty to go look for him too. With all these people looking for him, I know we'll find him soon."

"Not finding him isn't what I'm worried about," Namie said rather testily and glared at Shinra's smiling face, "What if he's already dead when we find him? What if it's worse than that? What will I do then?"

The smile slowly slipped off of Shinra's face while Namie was talking, and he softly said, "I'm sure you could find other jobs that pay as well as Izaya does and they wouldn't be nearly as aggravating. There's no need for you to try so hard. You'll get your money." The expression on Shinra's face was icy, and if you didn't know better, you would have thought he was someone else. Even Celty was surprised and she took a step back from Shinra.

Namie looked at Shinra with disdain, "You think I care about the money?" She said quietly, tightening her fists against her sides when they started to shake from anger.

"Don't you? You've never cared about anything else before, except for Seiji, of course," Shinra said still wearing the same cold expression. Celty looked from Shinra to Namie, and back again. She wasn't quite sure what was happening or why Shinra had gotten so angry. It didn't make sense.

"No! Of course not, I-"

"Then, what do you care about? Is it Izaya? If so, then why? I thought you despised him. I thought you couldn't stand being around him," Shinra's interruption startled her.

Why did she care? She's been asking herself the same thing since this morning. She didn't have an answer for that question yet and she didn't know when, or if, she ever would. She was still trying to get past the fact that she cared about someone other than Seiji, let alone Izaya. It still freaked her out. It was something unimaginable.

Namie closed her eyes and took a deep breath before answering, "He may be a malicious man, but no matter how twisted he may be, Izaya doesn't deserve what's happened to him or what might still happen. No one deserves that kind of treatment."

She opened her eyes again to see a smile reappear on Shinra's face. A softer, kinder smile than he had worn before. One that looked almost grateful or hopeful at her answer.

"So you do care about him after all," Shinra muttered under his breath so that only he and Celty's sensitive hearing could pick it up. Out loud he said, "Well, I'm glad you understand that."

Namie glared at Shinra and turned to leave the apartment. 'What does he mean by that? Of course I understand, I'm not some heartless person. Yeah, I work for Izaya, but that doesn't mean I've gone cold.'

As Namie reached the front door and turned the handle, Shinra's voice stopped her, "Where are you going?"

Namie turned to face him with question in her eyes and saw Celty standing beside her. Namie stepped away from her a bit, "I'm going to look for Izaya. Is there a problem with that?"

Shinra walked over to Namie and ushered her over to the couch, forcing her to sit down. Namie didn't go very willingly and Celty had to help Shinra with Namie. Once Namie was seated with no way out Shinra spoke.

"I think you should wait here with me while Celty and the others look for Izaya."

Namie instantly stopped struggling and turned to face Shinra, her expression furious, "What? Why?!"

Shinra flinched at the volume of her voice while Celty prevented Namie from slugging him. [Calm down Namie!]

"We need you here to treat Izaya's injuries!" Shinra said hurriedly as Namie's fist almost came in contact with his nose.

Folding her arms together and glaring hard at Shinra, Namie said, "Isn't that more reason for me to go look for him? If I find him, I can treat him."

"But what if someone else brings him back before you and you're not here to help? What then?" Shinra stated calmly, trying to reason with her.

Namie continued to glare at him for a long while before sighing, "Fine, I'll stay," gesturing to Celty, she added, "But she better look for him too."

Shinra's face started beaming in a wide smile and he nodded enthusiastically. He nodded at Celty and she headed for the door. Before she even reached the door knob, the door slammed open and in came Kururi and Mairu. They both looked out of breath, like they had ran here and it took them a few minutes to catch their breath.

As soon as they did, they looked up and everyone in the room noticed the scared and worried faces they wore. Softly and hesitantly, Mairu asked, "Where's Iza-Nii?"

All the occupants of the room just stayed silent, not answering the frightened girl's question, simply because they had none. And, with the silence becoming thick, the girls started to worry even more for the safety of their brother.


	4. Quality Time

**Okay, peeps, here's chapter four of Missing! There are more characters in this one including Vorona. And I'm sorry if she's out of character or anything. I don't really know much about her except for what I read on the Wikipedia. Enjoy and leave a review!**

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Seeing the twins' distress at their continued silence, Shinra put on a smile and quickly ushered both girls into the apartment. He sat them on the couch next to Namie. Celty then dismissed herself by nodding at them and left the apartment in search of Izaya. After Celty left, Shinra sat on his coffee table across from the twins.

Shinra looked both girls in the eyes and said, "We don't know where Izaya is, but we have people looking for him. I didn't mean to worry you with my call."

They looked at him horrified and simultaneously said, "Iza-Nii is missing?"

Their eyes started to fill up with tears and they whimpered before all out crying. Shinra, not knowing what to do, frantically tried to calm them down. When he couldn't get them to stop crying, Shinra looked over at Namie and pleaded for help with his eyes.

Without hesitation, and uncharacteristically, Namie pulled the girls into a hug and started shushing them, "It's going to be okay. Izaya's going to be okay. Don't cry, everything's going to be all right."

As Namie hugged them and softly spoke to the girls, she realized that this was the first time she had done this for anyone but her brother, Seiji. She had to wonder when it was that she started to care for Izaya's siblings like they were her own. When had she started placing them on the same level as her precious, darling brother? When had these girls, that closely resemble Izaya in appearance and personality, buried their way into a heart that should only be big enough for one? Why was it that, now, when she pictured her family, Izaya and his sisters were there with Seiji? She couldn't love them as much as Seiji. It wasn't possible, they were no where near as important as him.

Namie kept on telling herself this, but her heart told her otherwise. They were as important as Seiji. And so was Izaya. Over the past few months, they had grown on him and she realized with horror that Seiji had been on her mind less and less. Instead, there was Izaya. Namie understood something then. That man, as much as she thought she hated him, had grown on her and she didn't know what to do about it.

Shinra watched the three of them as they hugged tightly against each other and left the room. He had a lot to work to do when they found Izaya and he might as well start preparations now.

Right after Shizuo agreed to help find Izaya, he regretted it. He shouldn't be looking for the flea. He wanted him dead and gone, and away from Ikebukuro. But he had promised Shinra so there was no helping it now. However, that didn't mean he was going to do it alone. No, he wanted company as he looked for his enemy and he knew just who to call.

Vorona was happy when Shizuo called her for help. She'd do anything for the man, however, hearing what Shizuo needs help with kind of put a damper on her happy moment. But, knowing how much Shizuo hated Izaya and how he still agreed to find him made her think that her problems with it couldn't be any greater than Shizuo's. So, of course, she went along with him and helped him search.

Having Vorona here calmed Shizuo considerably and made him quite happy. He liked having her around and didn't really have the confidence that he would not kill Izaya when, or if, they found him without her here. That, and he was glad they could spend sone quality time together. But still, he was hoping that they wouldn't be the ones to find Izaya and that some other poor, unlucky soul would have the misfortune to bring him back to Shinra's.

"So, where are we going to start looking," Shizuo looked at Vorona as soon as she spoke and noticed her uninterested look.

"How should I know? I'm not a flea," Shizuo looked around as Vorona laughed and made his decision, "We'll start looking in the warehouses. 'S a good a place as any."

Vorona nodded and they started looking through each warehouse. They had looked inside nine warehouses already and when they got to the tenth, they heard some noises. Laughter and the sound of at least 20 people inside. Looking at Vorona, Shizuo sees her nod and they open both of the warehouse doors.

The door opened to reveal a large group of gangsters and all of them turned to face Shizuo and Vorona.

"Wow, theres really a lot of you isn't there?" Vorona smirked, "I bet I can take you all out."

"What'd you say? You think a small little blondie can take us out? I want to see you try!" One if the gangsters said, and in the process, managed to anger Shizuo By insulting Vorona.

Shizuo grabbed the nearest item to throw at them as the gang readied their weapons and charged at the two intruders, not realizing who they were. By the time they noticed that it was Shizuo they were attacking, it was already too late. As soon as the fight started, it was over as Shizuo threw a steel bar at them and Vorona did a backflip and knocked multiple men out by kicking them in the air.

"Shizuo, I wanted to take them out!" Vorona whined and glared at Shizuo.

Shizuo simply said, "Sorry, they made me mad," and tied the men up with the steel bar, throwing them outside of the warehouse to deal with them later.

Vorona, noticing another door in the room said, " Shizuo, there's a door over there. Want to go in."

Smirking, he answered, "Why not, there might be something interesting in there."

She smiled and ran up a head to the door pulling them open and they both walked inside. They didn't expect to find so much blood in that one small room.


	5. Unexpected Feelings

**Sorry guys, for the lateish update, but here it is!. Chapter 5 of Missing! I'm not sure if I really like this chapter. I think it's kind of boring. At least that's what I thought while writhing it, maybe it's actually a lot better than I think it is. Who knows. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and please review!**

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Shizuo and Vorona looked around the small room and found the very person they were sent out to look for. When they saw him, they realized that all the blood around the room cane from him. There was so much blood that it was hard to believe that it all came from one person. Especially, one as small and lithe as Izaya.

The next thing they noticed was that Izaya was hanging from the ceiling with manacles around his slender neck and his right wrist. There was another chain to the left of Izaya which should be holding his left arm, but wasn't for some reason. He was a few inches off the ground, and from the looks of it, Izaya was not in good condition. He was covered in bruises and his head appeared to be bleeding.

Upon closer inspection, Shizuo noticed something he'd rather not believe. Izaya was missing his left arm and that was why the was an unoccupied manacle. Shizuo looked back around the bloodied room and saw a chainsaw dyed in crimson. For the looks if it, that was what they used to cut his arm off. Shizuo couldn't even imagine the pain he must have went through.

Shizuo turned to Vorona, but she was still looking at Izaya. She had this look on her face that was somewhere between being stunned, horrified, and pleased. Although, the pleasure quickly vanished and became a look of reluctant concern and fear for the man.

"He's all covered in his own blood," Vorona whispered as she looked at Shizuo and then back at Izaya with pity. He really was covered completely in blood. The floor underneath him was a pool of crimson red and, still, more drops fell from his limp form.

Shizuo just nodded and started for Izaya, accidentally kicking a metal pipe when he took a step forward. He looked down. It too, was covered in blood.

A groan was heard and both Vorona and Shizuo faced Izaya again as he slowly began to open his eyes. He winced in pain and squinted at Shizuo and Vorona as his eyes were being attacked by the vicious bright lights.

Once his eyes adjusted and he realized who was there, Izaya forced a smile and spoke with a hoarse, slurred voice, "Shizu-chan, you've come to visit me," Izaya tilted his head slightly in Vorona's direction and turned his eyes toward her, "and you brought your little girlfriend with you, too. How nice."

He chuckled and went into a painful coughing fit, blood flowing out of his cracked lips. Izaya smiled again and tried to keep his eyes focused on Shizuo with much difficulty. Shizuo furrowed his brows as he noticed how hard it was for Izaya to keep his eyes open and he wonder why Izaya was trying to put on an act of being alright when he obviously wasn't.

Vorona stepped closer to Izaya until she was right next to and Shizuo followed. Izaya shifted his eyes to Vorona as she looked at him intently. Izaya frowned a little in confusion.

"What are you doing?" Izaya forced the question out in an exasperated tone. Or at least as exasperated as you could sound when you were fighting to stay conscious.

Neither of them answered him and just continued to stare. They were starting to make him uncomfortable and Izaya asked in a hushed voice, "We'll, are you going to help me, or kill me?"

This got their attention. They immediately looked at Izaya's face and noticed how grave it was. Before any of them could answer him, Izaya continued, "I don't really care which one you choose, just... don't leave me here... please."

His voice cracked at the end of his plea and he couldn't hold back the single tear that fell from his eyes. He was in so much pain right now, he didn't care that he was showing weakness to his nemesis. It just wanted it all to stop. He didn't want to hurt anymore.

Finally Shizuo spoke an his voice had a strange gentleness that Izaya didn't think was possible coming from the monster, "We're here to help you. Shinra asked us to come find you. You're safe now."

Izaya could hardly believe his ears. Shizuo was going to help him. Shizuo was going to save him. Izaya gave him a small, broken smile and his world faded back to black.

Shizuo was shocked when he saw Izaya give him a real smile and not one of those smirks he came to associate with the flea. But, when Izaya suddenly became limp, he grew very worried and thought that Izaya had just died on him. Vorona was, however, was already ahead of him and started feeling for a pulse.

When she knew for sure that it was there she smiled at Shizuo, "It's alright, Shizuo, he's still alive," she looked back at Izaya and said, "We need to get him back to Shinra's or else he won't stay that way forever."

Shizuo let out a breathe he didn't know he was holding and answered, "Do you think you could get him down?"

Vorona nodded and pulled out one of her weapons. She swung it and threw it towards the chains above Izaya's head, cutting it in half. Izaya fell and upon landing on his feet, Shizuo and Vorona heard a sickening crack as he fell on his side.

Looking at each other, Voronra asked, "You heard that, right?"

Shizuo nodded, pulled out his phone, and dial Kadota's number. When he answered, Shizuo said, "Hey, Kyohei, we found him. Get your car and come over here," he looked down at Izaya's crumpled form, "And bring a stretcher, we're going to need it."

After Shizuo called Kyohei, he informed Shinra that they had found Izaya. Shinra then passed on the information to Namie and the twins. As soon as thy heard the news they started questioning Shinra immediately.

"Is Iza-Nii okay?"

"How bad is he hurt?"

"When will they be back?"

"Hold on! I can't answer you all at once!" Shinra yelled over the screaming girls. When they calmed down he continued, "I don't know any of the details yet, but there are on there way here."

"But he's alive, isn't he?" Namie asked carefully. She didn't want to get her hopes up too quickly just to learn that what they found was his body.

Shinra gave her a smile and nodded, "Yes, he's alive."

The twins started crying for happiness and hugged Namie tightly, "He's alive, Namie, Iza-Nii is alive!"

Namie hugged them back and a few tears fell out of her eyes as well, she smiled softly and said "Yes, he's alive. He'll be okay, now."

Namie gave up trying to figure out why she cared so much. She supposed it was because she has spent so much time with Izaya that she has started to like him. They do day that the more time you spend with someone, the more they start to grow on you. She just never expected that to happen with Izaya.


	6. Calling For Help

**Okay guys, here's chapter 6. Sorry for the longish wait and thanks for all your reviews! Oh, and to the guest reviewer who gave me tips about Vorona, thank you. I'm not exactly sure what robot Japanese is so you'll have to forgive me for that. Also, I'm aware that Vorona wants to fight Shizuo, but I think that there are other reasons she hangs around him too.**

**Anyway, I'll let you get reading if you guys haven't done so already. Please enjoy and review!**

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As soon as he got off the phone with Shizuo, Kadota flipped his phone shut with a grim expression on his face. His friends noticed this immediately and gathered around.

When everyone was there, Kadota spoke, "Shizuo just called. He found Izaya."

Erika's face automatically brightened and she shouted out in excitement until she realized that Kadota's expression hadn't changed. Frowning in confusion, she asked, "What is it Dota-chin? What's wrong?"

Kadota stayed silent for a long while, causing everyone to grow worried with anticipation, "From what Shizuo said, it doesn't seem like Izaya's in the best of conditions. In fact, it sounds very bad."

Walker suddenly shouted in outburst and said, "What are we waiting for then? Let's go help him!"

"Yeah!" Erika agreed with determination in her eyes, "Let's help him!"

Nodding in agreement, Kadota looked at the Van Gang and asked a final question before setting off, "Do any of you own a stretcher?"

Everyone stared at Kadota blankly and the atmosphere suddenly got heavy. They blinked at Kadota as the graveness of the situation finally dawned on them. If Izaya needed a stretcher, then he really was in bad condition.

"I'll take that as a no then," Kadota said, breaking the suffocating atmosphere.

After hanging up the phone, Shizuo looked at Izaya's limp form, studying him. He thought back to Izaya's plea for help, wondering what could have happen to him to make the great Izaya Orihara act like that. In all the time Shizuo had known Izaya, he knew that he was not one to show weakness to anyone let alone Shizuo. That alone told Shizuo how much pain Izaya had endured.

Seeing Izaya like this almost made Shizuo feel sorry for him. Almost. Then he remembered what Izaya has done to so many others and he completely forgets his pity for the man. But no matter what Izaya had done, Shizuo couldn't just leave him there, especially when Izaya begged him not too. Shizuo couldn't bring himself to kill him either. Not like this.

The only thing left for him to do was help Izaya.

Shizuo's thoughts drifted to just a few minutes ago. The deafening crack he heard when Izaya landed on his feet was unexpected and Shizuo understood what that meant. Whoever did this had broken Izaya's legs. They didn't want to take any chances of Izaya escaping.

Even if Izaya had managed to get out of the chains binding him to the ceiling, he wouldn't be able to go anywhere. The most he could do would be to drag himself on the floor with his only remaining arm and even then, he wouldn't get very far before they found and captured him again. These people were ruthless and they wanted Izaya to suffer.

Shizuo came out of his musings and looked over at Vorona. She was sitting next to one of the walls, staring at one other weapons intently. She seemed to notice Shizuo's eyes on her for she turned her head towards him and met his eyes.

She stared at him blankly and said, "So, are they coming or what?"

Shizuo stared at her for a few seconds before looking at Izaya and answering, "Yeah, they'll be here in a few minutes."

"Awesome, what do we do until then?" Vorona looked around in boredom before smirking mischievously and said, "I know. How about me and you spar for a bit?"

Shizuo opened his mouth to answer, but before he could say anything in response, a groan interrupted him, drawing the attention of both Vorona and Shizuo to Izaya. They waited for a minute, but when there was no further movement coming from Izaya, Shizuo stepped closer to him.

"Oi, flea, you awake," Shizuo nudged him lightly with his foot. This action erected a sharp intake of breath from Izaya and an angry groan.

"Don't _do_ that," Izaya hissed as he slowly opened his eyes and gave Shizuo a weak, almost nonexistent glare.

"I barely touched you," was his reply as he crouched down closer to Izaya, helping both himself and Izaya to see the other better.

Izaya gave up glaring at the blond and instead used his energy to focus on the conversation, "Yeah, well, at this point even breathing causes severe pain. So kicking me is just going to make it worse."

As if to prove his point, Izaya's breathing became ragged and uneven. His face scrunched up in pain and merciless coughs invaded his body. With every cough, there was a hacking noise and blood came pouring out of Izaya's mouth. When he finally stopped coughing, Izaya's lips were covered in the thick substance, dying them a deep crimson.

Izaya looked up at Shizuo, and noticing his solemn face, smiled brightly.

"So, when, exactly, are you going to help me Shizu-chan? My life's not getting any longer," he managed to rasp out.

Vorona got up from her place on the floor and walked to the metal door while saying, "Looks like help has arrived. Just in time too, I don't think Izaya can wait much longer."

She pulled the door open to reveal the Van Gang standing on the other side. From the position Kadota was in, it looked like he was just about to open up the door for himself with the rest of the gang waiting behind him. Getting over the shock, Kadota looked around and was surprised to see so much blood. He spotted Shizuo and Vorona, but had yet to see Izaya. That changed quickly when his eyes landed on his battered form. If Kadota didn't know better, he would have thought that the man was dead.

"Kyohei," Shizuo stood up and turned the rest of the way to face Kadota, "you're here."

Kadota nodded stiffly and cautiously walked towards Izaya, with Erika, Walker, and Saburo staying behind, too shocked to move. When he reached Izaya, he crouched down next to him much like Shizuo had earlier.

Not liking the look of horror placed on Kadota's face, Izaya shifted uncomfortably before realizing his mistake and hissing in pain from the movement. Kadota's face changed from one of horror to one of worry instead.

"Are you alright, Izaya?" Kadota reached for him,but was stopped by a look from Shizuo.

Izaya forced a smile on his face and said as evenly as he could, "I'm fine, Dota-chin. No need to worry."

Even as he said that, Kadota knew that he was no where near being okay and wouldn't be for a long time. He just hoped that the damage done to Izaya wouldn't be too permanent. Just looking at him, Kadota could tell that if Izaya didn't get help soon, he wouldn't be alive for much longer. Kadota called over the rest of his gang and they prepared to take Izaya to Shinra.


	7. Secrets and Confessions

**Sorry for the long wait! This chapter took me a while to write so I was only able to put it up right now. It's a little longer than usual and it's pretty eventful, at least I hope it is. Enjoy and please review! Tell me what you think!**

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Erika and Walker went to the car to get the stretcher for Izaya, both slightly traumatized by what they saw. They had tortured people before, but never like that. They had never tortured someone to the point were they almost died from severe blood loss and they definitely never cut of a limb. Well, not unless you counted fingers and toes. The scene nearly brought Erika to tears.

"What sort of evil person would do something like that!" Erika screamed as she and Walker made it to the care, "I mean, who's even stupid enough to do that to _Izaya_?! Everyone knows that Izaya can and will pay them back tenfold!"

"They must have some sort of death wish or something," Walker nodded in agreement, pacing back and forth in front of the car. He was obviously upset about this as much as Erika was.

Erika grabbed her hair with her hands and pulled hard in frustration, "I know, right?!"

Erika suddenly stopped pulling her hair and, with her hands still in her hair, she looked down to cover her face, "What are we going to do, Yumacchi?"

Erika's tone was sad and Walker could see tears falling down her face. He walked closer to her and pulled her into a tight embrace. Putting his face in her hair, Walker whispered, "I don't know, Erika."

As Erika and Walker were out getting the stretcher, Kadota and Saburo stayed inside. Saburo was leaning against the wall and Kadota was kneeling next to a broken Izaya. Shizuo and Vorona were talking amongst themselves in the corner of the warehouse. While Kyohei looked highly concerned, Izaya was absolutely delighted to see Kadota, albeit slightly forced.

"Dota-chin, come on, cheer up! You're not the one who's dying here. Don't look so glum," Izaya said in as loud a voice as he could manage, which is a slightly loud whisper.

Kyohei couldn't believe it. Izaya was joking around while he's here, on the floor, bleeding to death! Blood was dripping out of his mouth and he's smiling! Kadota was enraged at both Izaya, and the people responsible.

"How can you do that?" Kadota held back a hiss as he talked to Izaya.

Izaya blinked and stared at Kyohei, his smile still in place, "How can I do what, exactly, Dota-chin?"

Izaya moved a bit, causing the chains around his neck and arm to jingle. Kadota noticed them for a first time and saw the raw skin underneath. He glared hard, his anger growing, and answered Izaya's question, "How can you smile and pretend like there's nothing wrong, like you haven't just been brutally tortured?!"

Shizuo and Vorona turned to look at the pair when they heard Kyohei raise his voice and tuned in on their conversation. If things escalated, Shizuo would have to step in. At that moment, Vorona decided she wasn't needed anymore. She said her goodbyes to Shizuo and left the warehouse to do whatever it was she did when she wasn't around Shizou. Since Vorona was no longer there for Shizuo to converse with, he decided to give his full attention to Izaya and Kyohei.

"I don't understand why you're so upset," Izaya said, brows furrowing in confusion and smile dropping slowly.

"You don't understand? Really, Izaya? How stupid can you be?!" Kyohei was yelling now and Izaya was starting to get a bit scared. So in order to hide his unwanted and unwarranted fear, Izaya pretended to be angry.

"Since when do you care about what happens to me? Since when does anyone care?!" Izaya yelled back and instantly regretted it when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.

More blood came out of his mouth as he whimpered and clutched his chest with his only remaining hand. His eyes were shut tightly in a futile attempt to ease the pain. Everyone was around him instantly and just then Erika and Walker came through the warehouse doors with the stretcher.

"Bring it over here, hurry!" Kadota called over to them.

"Got it!" Both Erika and Walker said at the same time, walking fast towards Izaya.

Izaya stopped clutching his chest and slowly opened his eyes again, panting, he said, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Shizuo growled at him.

Erika and Walker lowered the stretcher next to Izaya and got ready to lift him onto it with Shizuo and Kadota on the other side. Kadota looked over at Saburo, "Get the car ready, Saburo. We'll need to leave as soon as we get Izaya into the van."

Nodding, Saburo left towards the car, "Right."

Kyohei looked back down at Izaya, noticing that his eyes were unfocused and that he wasn't all the way there. Izaya didn't have much time left.

He turned to look at the rest of the of the group, and firmly said, "We'll lift him up on the count of three."

"One," Shizuo said.

"Two," Erika and Walker said simultaneously.

What they were saying finally registered in Izaya's mind and he began to panic, "Wait, no, don't-"

"Three!"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Izaya let out an agonizing scream and grabbed the closest person to him with his bloody hand.

Everyone was shocked when they heard the deafening scream and quickly laid Izaya on the stretcher. Kadota was startled when Izaya grasped his arm and gripped it like a lifeline. His face was pressed into Kadota's shirt and he was breathing in short, rasping gasps.

As Izaya was trying to catch his breath, everyone sat completely still, not wanting to harm him any further. Izaya evened his breath out and slowly let go of Kyohei's sleeve, leaving a bloodstain on his jacket. Erika looked at the blood left on Kadota's sleeve and looked at Walker with concerned eyes. Walker's face was grim and Erika could tell that he was thinking the same thing she was.

She stood up and grabbed Walker's hand, "We're going to wait in the car. Is that okay, Dota-chin?"

He looked back at her and nodded, "Yeah, we'll be there in a bit." She nodded and they left.

Izaya glared at Kadota weakly as both he and Shizuo moved to opposite ends of the stretcher and lifted it up. Izaya was tired, but he knew that if he went to sleep now, he probably wouldn't wake up again. Then again, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea. Shizuo seemed to have other plans though.

"What did you get yourself into, Izaya?" Shizuo asked Izaya in the softest voice he's ever used towards the smaller male.

Izaya scoffed, "What do you care?"

Kadota answered him this time as they made their way inside the van, "Believe it or not Izaya, there are some people who actually care about you."

"Hmm," Izaya said, not really hearing what Kyohei was saying as his eyes fluttered shut.

He was just so tired. Not only physically, but mentally as well. He wanted all the pain to stop. He didn't want to be here anymore. If he could just fall asleep now, everything would be okay again. There would be no more pain. No more enemies. No more hate. Everything would simply go away and he could finally rest in peace.

Everyone was quiet when Kyohei and Shizuo brought Izaya inside the car. They were all stuck in their own thoughts and didn't really know what to say. Erika was worried about Izaya and watched him closely as they drove away from the warehouse. She wanted to make sure that he was okay and automatically noticed when Izaya's eyes started to dim and gradually began to close. She knew she had to keep him awake.

"IzaIza, you have to stay awake until we get to Shinra's," she said, disrupting Izaya's attempted slumber.

He opened his eyes again , looking at Erika on his right, and mumbled, "I don't think I can."

"Talking will keep you awake," Walker chimed in helpfully.

Izaya turned his lips up in a slight smile, "And what would you two like me to talk about?"

Erika and Walker looked at each other and smiled. They were thinking that, maybe, since Izaya was kind of out of it, he would tell them things he wouldn't normally let out.

"Tell us why you hate Shizu-chan!" They said enthusiastically. This got both Shizuo and Kyohei interested as well.

"That's a bit personal," Izaya said a bit sluggishly.

Erika and Walker deflated instantly, and Shizuo looked very confused, "Personal? How in the world is it personal? We've hated each other since we first meet. There's nothing personal about it."

Izaya sighed and looked over at Shizuo on his other side, "No, you hated me. As I recall, I wanted to be friends and even said as much."

Shizuo crossed his arms and thought about it. He did vaguely remember _something_ like that happening. But if that wasn't the reason Izaya hated him, then what was?

"Well then, what's the reason you hate me so much?" Shizuo asked with real curiosity.

Izaya scrutinized Shizuo quietly as if expecting to find some ulterior motive in his eyes. After awhile, Izaya decided that there was none and answered, "You took my sisters from me."

Shizuo was taken aback. What did Izaya mean? How did he take Izaya's sisters from him? Shizuo looked around and noticed that all available eyes were on him. He looked back down at Izaya and saw that his eyes were closed again.

"Hey, Izaya! What do you mean by that?" He spoke a little too loudly.

Izaya's eyes snapped open and he jumped a bit at the loud sound. He winced and whimpered in pain. Remembering that Shizuo asked him a question, Izaya looked at him.

"Isn't it obvious? My sisters practically worship you," Izaya's words were starting to slur and you could tell he was having a hard time staying awake, "They would gladly throw me under a bus for you because they hate me."

Shizuo raised an eyebrow, "And how is that my fault?"

Glaring, Izaya answered quietly, "They only started hating me when I met you. They only hate _me _because _you_ do."

This gave Shizuo pause. From what Izaya was saying, Shizuo was Mairu and Kururi's role model. Then he understood. To Izaya, Shizuo had taken his spot as big brother and he felt replaced. Izaya felt alone.

Before Shizuo could say anything, Kadota spoke for the first time during the whole car ride, "Izaya, we're going to reach Shinra's place in a few minutes. Can I ask you something before we get there?"

Too tired to say anything at the moment, Izaya just nodded.

"Who did this to you? Who's behind it?" Kyohei asked and he could feel the atmosphere thicken with tension and the apprehension coming from his friends.

"I can't tell you," Izaya said, looking away from Kadota to, instead, focus on the blood covering his bruised and possibly broken fingers.

"Why not? Is it because you couldn't see them? Or maybe they were wearing masks?" Walker asked, trying not to look at the crimson liquid as it trickled down Izaya's hand.

Izaya dropped his hand onto his chest and gripped the spot where his arm used to be, "No, I can't… tell you because…the person who did this to me… is important to someone I care about… If I tell you… and you hurt them," Izaya's voice cracked and he was having trouble talking, "then they'll never forgive me… They'll hate me and I can't _handle_ that."

After he finished talking, Izaya blacked out, unable to take the strain of forcing himself to stay conscious any longer. As Izaya passed out, the only thoughts going through everyone's head was, 'Who does Izaya care about?' and, 'Oh crap, he fell asleep.'


	8. Safe At Home

**Okay, here's Chapter 8! Izaya's finally going to get back to Shinra's. Read and review please!**

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While waiting for Izaya to come back, Kururi and Mairu had fallen asleep in Namie's arms. Looking down at the twins, Namie felt a smile coming onto her face. They were such sweet girls. Even though they acted like they hated Izaya, they really cared for him, unlike Namie's own brother. She had spent a long time trying to convince herself that Seiji did care about her, but as time passed, and more and more things happened she began to realize that it wasn't true. Seiji didn't care about her. Not as much as she cared about him, and he probably never would. So, she would just have to give up.

Namie shifted in her position between the girls and carefully untangled herself from them to stand up. She made her way over to the kitchen area when the door opened up, revealing Celty. Shinra, hearing the door, ran up and hugged her tightly.

"Celty, my love, you came back to me!" He squealed like a giddy child.

Celty reached into her pocket and pulled out her PDA, [Shinra, I didn't leave you! I went to find Izaya, remember?]

You could clearly tell she was embarrassed by Shinra's actions. She punched him in the gut, causing Shinra to pull away. Wincing and with a smile on his face, he replied, "But you were gone for so long I began to worry."

[I was gone for 20 minutes!] Celty shouted at Shinra, then looking in Mairu and Kururi's direction continued, [Izaya is the one you should be worrying about, not me.]

The room quieted immediately and everyone's face darkened. Celty noticed Namie standing there for the first time and felt she needed to ask Shinra what she knew Namie didn't dare to, [How is Izaya, by the way? Have you gotten any more news from Shizuo or Kyohei?]

"No," Shinra sighed, "the only thing I know is that they're bringing Izaya here and that he's alive. Shizuo didn't tell me anything else."

Namie spoke up as she finished walking into the kitchen, "They should be here soon. I just hope Izaya can hold off that long. He's probably lost a lot of blood because of his arm."

Namie made some tea as they waited for the Van Gang, and after a few minutes Celty spoke, [About Izaya's arm, Shinra, do you think you will be able sew it back on?]

"Um, about that-"

Before Shinra could finish his answer, the door to his apartment slammed open, revealing the Shizuo, the Van Gang, and a heavily bleeding Izaya. The loud noise awakened the sleeping twins, causing them to jump up on the couch. They looked for the source of the noise and when they spotted it, they came running towards the group.

"Iza-Nii!" They were stopped from getting any closer, however, by Erika and Walker.

"We can't let you get too close to him yet. IzaIza is very hurt right now and we don't want it to get any worse," Erika said gently as she and Walker ushered them away from Izaya.

Mairu didn't take the news well, "Why not? I want to see him! It's not like we're going to tackle him or something!"

Kururi took it much more calmly than Mairu and put on a collected and serious face, much like one you would normally see on Izaya, "Mairu, there're right. We should be patient and wait."

Mairu looked back horrified at Kururi and began to complain, "But Kure-nee I-"

"No, Mairu," Kururi interrupted her, "We will do as they say and sit here until we are allowed to see Iza-Nii."

Mairu looked as though she was going to complain again, but shut her mouth and nodded when she saw the expression on Kururi's face. Kururi was serious. Slowly, Mairu sat down next to her sister and pouted. Walker and Erkia smiled at the twins and sat down next to them.

"We'll wait here with you," Walker said and Erika nodded enthusiastically.

Smiling slightly, Kururi replied, "Thank you, for staying with us."

"No problem," Erika said, trying to keep on a cheerful disposition despite the current situation. She was nowhere near happy, it since they had found Izaya.

Meanwhile, Shinra, Celty, and Namie rushed towards the stretcher carrying Izaya.

"Shinra," Kadota started as soon as he was close enough, "we tried to keep him awake for as long as we could, but he blacked out before we got here."

Shinra and Namie directed the men into one of Shinra's hospital rooms as Shinra asked, "How long ago was that?"

Shizuo answered this time, "It was about 10 minutes ago."

"What injuries does he have?" Namie questioned quickly.

"I know his arm was cut off and I'm pretty sure his legs are broken," Shizuo answere immediately.

"What?" Kadota asked, but he received no answer. He looked to Shinra and Namie's faces and saw that they were just as devastated as he was.

Kyohei couldn't imagine how much pain Izaya had gone through. He had known about the arm, that was painfully obvious, but he had no idea that these... these monsters had destroyed his only chance of escape as well. Whoever did this must have a serious grudge against Izaya. Kadota might not like Izaya much, but he did care about him and wouldn't wish this on anyone.

After what seemed like hours, but was actually only a few seconds, they reached the room and hurriedly, but carefully, put Izaya on the bed. As soon as Izaya was laid down, Shinra and Namie looked him over. Namie's lips went into a grim line and Shinra started to turn pale.

Celty noticed this and worriedly asked, [What's wrong? Will Izaya be alright?]

As Shinra was busy bringing the supplies over, Namie answered in his place, "Things don't look to good. From what I can tell by just looking at him, Izaya has lost too much blood. If we don't do something soon, Izaya will die."

Namie was being surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Earlier, tears were falling down her face when she had found Izaya's arm and realized he was missing. But now, all the fear and worry was gone, being replaced by determination and hope that everything would be alright again. That Izaya would survive this.

"What about his head injury?" Kyohei asked as Shinra placed the materials down on a table, "How bad is that? Will he be okay?"

Shinra stopped what he was doing and turned worriedly to Namie, "Head injury? What head injury?"

Namie looked just as confused and worried as Shinra, saying, "I didn't see any head injuries."

"That's because it's on the other side of his head," Shizuo carefully added, noticing the heavy atmosphere.

Namie nodded and placed her hands on Izaya's head. Slowly, she turned his head to face the opposite direction, not wanting to cause more damage. When that was done, they saw the wound. Namie held her breath and inspected the damage done to Izaya's skull.

Namie released her breath, appearing to be relieved, "It's okay. It's not as bad as it looks, head injuries just tend to bleed a lot."

"Oh, good," Shinra let out an exaggerated sigh, " If that wound was any worse, we would have had a huge problem."

"So he's okay then?" Kadota asked again with Celty nervously standing behind him.

Shinra gave a sad smile, "Not even close. We haven't fully assessed the damage done to him yet, and he could still die with all the blood loss. Even if we can manage to stop the blood and complete the surgery, there is no grantee that he will survive."

"It really just depends on him. His will to live and the extent his injuries," Namie added quietly, "We should start."

"Right," Shinra agreed.

The first thing did was remove the chains from around Izaya's neck and wrist. The manacles were difficult to get off and had attached themselves to the raw skin underneath. As hard as Namie and Shinra tried, they couldn't prevent pieces of skin from coming off along with the cuffs. Kadota winced when he saw the red skin come off of Izaya and the blood start to seeping out of the newly formed wounds. Kyohei couldn't stand to look any more and stared at Shizuo instead. No matter how hard Shizuo tried to hide it, Kyohei saw how uncomfortable he was at the sight.

'Good,' he thought, 'Im not the only one who's a little freaked out by this.'

With the manacles off, Kadota assumed they were going to treat the inflamed skin, but was surprised to see them ignore the wounds entirely. First, Shinra grabbed Izaya's tattered jacket and pulled it over his bloody stump. Then, he carefully lifted Izaya into a sitting position as Namie pulled the jacket off all the way by the sleeve and helped Shinra set him down again. Shinra held his hand out as if he wanted something and Namie gave him some scissors.

Shinra began to cut Izaya's shirt, but he stopped. He didn't know what to expect or what he see. He didn't know how badly Izaya was hurt, and it scared him. He had never seen Izaya like this. He had never been this badly hurt before, no one has ever gotten so close. So why now? Why was he hurt so badly now? What went wrong?

"Shinra," Namie said, breaking the silence that had surrounded the room.

Shinra looked up, startled, "What?"

Namie held out her hand and spoke softly, "Do you want me to do it?"

"No. No, I'll do it," Shinra looked down at Izaya's crippled form before continuing to cut open his shirt.

The first thing everyone noticed when Izaya's shirt was pulled open were the monstrous, dark bruises covering the majority of his body. Upon removing the rest of his shirt, they found that it was the same on his arms and back as well. Even his hands and fingers were covered with the gruesome discoloration. The bruising was so bad Shinra almost missed the deep gash above Izaya's right hip.

Celty decided she had had enough and quickly fled the room and started crying without any actually tears. Shinra watched sadly as she left the room, wanting so badly to go and comfort her, but knew he had to stay here and help Izaya.

"We should work on taking care of the worst wounds first and move on to the smaller ones once we're done," Namie said, wearing her normal apathetic expression.

Shinra had to give her credit. She was a strong person, especially when things got critical. She was the only one who had keep her cool when Izaya arrived and even still, she was completely focused on the task at hand.

"I'll began with his arm then. Namie, take care of the laceration on his side," Shinra ordered, finally getting into his serious, doctor mode.

"I'm on it," Namie replied and began working.

As Shinra tended to Izaya's arm, he noticed that something was moving. Shinra paused in his ministrations and waited for a minute. When nothing happened, Shinra continued to work, but he felt the movement again.

Frustrated, Shinra stood up straight, and said, "Who's moving the table?"

Shizuo and Kyohei looked confused as they stood near the wall, "Don't look at us. We're way over here," Shizuo said and Kadota nodded in agreement.

Shinra turned to look at Namie and she stared back, "I thought you were the one doing it."

"Well, if wasn't any one of use and it wasn't them, then…" Shinra trailed off and turned to look at Izaya as he began to slowly open his eyes.

Shinra's eyes widened, and he said, "Oh no. Not now, Izaya. Don't wake up now."

But it was too late.

When Izaya woke up, he was in unimaginable torment. It wasn't like this before. Before, there was a lot of pain, but it was manageable. Now that all the numbness was gone, the pain attacked him full force. It was a torture worse than what his tormentors could ever hope to cause him. But, he guessed, in a way they did cause this. He just wanted to scream and cry, but for some reason he couldn't. He was stuck in silent agony, unable to fall asleep and yet, unable to fully wake up either.

Izaya felt the pain intensify around his arm and near his hip. It made everything worse, but in the process, it released him from his trapped state inside his mind. Slowly, Izaya began to open his eyes and his vocal cords began to work again.


	9. Making Everything Better

**Sorry for the long wait guys! I'm not sure if this chapter ended up well, but here it is. Please read, review, and enjoy!**

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A blood curdling scream erupted from Izaya's throat and his body involuntarily started to convulse. His back arched painfully forward and he kicked his legs, causing further damage to the broken limbs. Izaya's face was contorted in pain and he dug his fingernails into the bleeding wound of his missing arm. His screams drowned out all the sounds around him, completely blocking out the sounds of panic arising from the people around him. Izaya could barely register the people holding him down, and the hand prying his nails away and out of the stump of his arm. Everything hurt so much and there was nothing Izaya could do to stop it. Hot tears began streaming down his face as Izaya struggled to get out of the tight grip of hands and away from all the agony he was going through.

As soon as Izaya's eyes opened he began to scream and the room was filled with his tortured cries. Shinra acted immediately when Izaya began to move uncontrollably and yelled out orders to everyone in the room, "Shizuo! Hold Izaya down! Kyohei! I want you to hold Izaya's legs down, stop him from further hurting himself! Namie, go get the pain medication now!"

Shizuo and Kyohei stepped away from the wall to do as Shinra said while Namie went to find the pain medication, and Shinra went to Izaya's side, pulling his arm to prevent him from digging his nails into his now nonexistent limb.

Shizuo stared at Izaya as he held him down and realized for the first time just how small and fragile he really was. How easily Shizuo could break him with his inhuman strength without even meaning too. Just one good hit and he'd be gone. The tears running down Izaya's face as he screamed made Shizuo wonder just how much he had been wrong about Izaya. Izaya, who Shizuo once thought of as invincible was screaming and crying in pain right in front of him. Tearing at his own skin as if doing that would make the agony go away. Shizuo couldn't believe this was happening. This was a person no one has ever managed to touch, let alone hurt, and yet here he was, a bloody mess on the bed. And there was nothing Shizuo could do but to watch as Shinra tried to fix him.

There was banging at the door to the room and the twins were screaming worriedly, "What's wrong?! Why is Iza-Nii screaming?! Let us in?!"

They could hear Erika and Walker talking to them and the banging stopped. In its place was more shouting from the twins getting quieter as they were pulled away from the door.

"Let us go! We want to see Iza-Nii! Let us-" The girls could no longer be heard over Izaya's own screams.

Namie quickly returned with the pain medication and injected it into Izaya's arm. The effects were immediate. Izaya stopped screaming and calmed down, no longer thrashing about. Shizuo and Kyohei slowly let go of him and backed off. Namie, surprised by the fast working drug, looked at Shinra curiously.

Shinra smiled and said, "I designed a fast working pain killer during my free time. It also causes numbness," he then looked sadly down at Izaya, "I didn't think I'd have to use it any time soon though."

Izaya blinked away the tears and sweat from his eyes and examined the room he was in. Now that he wasn't overcome with pain, Izaya noticed that he was at Shinra's place. After registering that, he noticed Namie, Shizuo, Kyohei, and Shinra hovering over him with worried expressions. For whatever reason, this caused a small smile to appear on Izaya's face.

After a moment to gather his bearings, he looked over at Namie and smiled wider, "Namie! It's so good to see you! How have you been?" His voice was hoarse after all the screaming, but Izaya gave it no mind and waited for Namie's answer.

Namie stared at him blankly, "You've been screaming for the past ten minutes and the first thing you say is 'how have you been'?"

Izaya attempted and failed to shrug at Namie and with a wince slightly diminishing his smile he said, "What can I say, Namie? I've really missed you."

Before Namie could respond, Shinra interrupted her, "Izaya, we need to take care of your injuries right away or you won't make it through the night."

Izaya blinked slowly and had trouble getting his eyes back open, "But I feel fine now."

Now that Izaya thought about it, it was weird how good he felt after practically trying to rip himself apart a mere three seconds ago. He felt tired and really, really hungry, but he wasn't in agonizing pain anymore. His mind was working slower though, and he couldn't feel his limbs so Izaya knew Shinra must have given him something.

Izaya's thoughts were disrupted by Shinra's voice, "Yes, well, that's only because of the drugs we gave you. I'm not sure how long it will last, but it's best to finish this quickly so we can get you to a room where you can recuperate. I'm going to put you to sleep now."

Shinra made to administer the sleeping drug, but Izaya grabbed his arm, "No, don't."

"Why not? It will be more comfortable for you and you won't feel a thing," Shinra asked, clearly confused.

Izaya looked at him crossly and tightened his grip. "Just don't," he breathed out in what one could almost mistake for fear.

Shinra nodded hesitantly and Izaya let go of him. He put the drugs away and stared at Izaya, wondering what was going through his head.

"What do you want us to do, Shinra?" Kyohei spoke up and Izaya focused his eyes on the dark haired man.

Shinra snapped his head toward Kyohei. He had almost forgotten that he and Shizuo were still there, "Ah, Kyohei. I don't know if we'll need you anymore, but I think you and Shizuo should stay here, just in case."

Both Kyohei and Shizuo nodded in understanding and Shinra went to get new material for Izaya, having dropped the last ones on the floor. Shizuo and Kyohei went back to their previous positions by the wall and when Kyohei turned around he saw Izaya staring. "What?" Kyohei asked, confused.

Izaya continued staring for a bit before shaking his head and turning to face Namie instead. He wasn't sure why he had been staring, but for some reason he was surprised to see that the man was still there. Of course he was surprised to see that Shizuo was still there too, but he didn't really feel like acknowledging his presence at the moment.

Through the numbness and lack of feeling in his arm, Izaya managed to lift it up and hold his hand out towards Namie. Too tired to work up a smile or pretend anymore, Izaya decided to forgo all the precepts of being alright and give in to his emotional mindset. For the first time in his life, Izaya willingly showed someone weakness.

"Namie, hold my hand?" His voice cracked and his eyes leaked as he pleaded to his secretary for help. His fingers twitched with the effort of spreading them out for Namie to grab and blood dripped down his arm from the small appendages.

To say that everyone was shocked would be an understatement. They stopped what they were doing and openly gaped at Izaya, not believing what they heard or saw. Namie opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, not sure how to respond. She opened it again and hesitantly said, "Izaya, I can't. I have to help Shinra with your injuries."

Izaya moved his arm closer to Namie, reaching his hand out further. "Please," Izaya whispered and looked Namie in the eyes. In his eyes, Namie saw deep sadness and pain. She couldn't stand to see him looking like that anymore so she relented and took his hand.

"Okay, Izaya. I'll hold your hand," After she said this Izaya smiled and everyone started moving again.

Shinra came over with the clean supplies and set to work on Izaya. As Shinra worked, Namie continued to hold Izaya's hand and he just stared blankly at the ceiling. Namie could feel Izaya's blood dripping through theirs hands and couldn't help but imagine what had occurred to have caused such blood loss. She contemplated asking Izaya himself, but one look at him changed her mind. She didn't want Izaya to go through that again, even in his own mind.

Without Namie able to help him anymore, Shinra called Kyohei and Shizuo over to do various tasks like handing him tools and wiping the blood off of Izaya.

As Shinra was working on Izaya's arm a question popped into Shizuo's head, "What about his arm? Can you put it back on?"

Shinra looked at Shizuo and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Sighing, he said, "Unfortunately, it's been too long to reattach his arm. Not only that, but it's not a clean cut and it would be impossible to repair the damage enough to make it work. It almost looks like they used some sort of saw to cut his arm off."

"That would make sense," Shizuo mumbled, thinking about the bloody chainsaw he found in the warehouse.

"So he won't have an arm anymore," Kyohei said with pity for the raven haired man. He looked over at Izaya to see his reaction to this, but Izaya appeared to be in his own little world, not even paying attention to the conversation around him. Kyohei looked at Namie instead and saw her troubled expression.

Soon after, Shinra finished treating Izaya's arm and bandaged it, now moving on to the deep laceration above Izaya's hip. First, he attempted to stop the bleeding, then he cleaned the wound. The only thing left to do was stitch it up.

"Shizuo, hand me that thread over there," Shinra pointed to the table before turning his attention to Izaya, "Izaya, I'm going to stitch up your wound now. You may feel a slight tugging so don't be alarmed."

Izaya nodded slightly and Shizuo handed Shinra the thread. As soon as he got it, Shinra studiously began to stitch Izaya up. It took a while, but Shinra finally sewed the wound together. He then proceeded to bandage the rest of Izaya's injuries.

He stood up straight and stretched before Namie's voice got his attention, "What are you going to do with his legs?"

Shinra winced slightly and walked over to Izaya's legs. He cut the legs of Izaya's pants to his knees and examined them, "His shins are broken, but his legs are too swollen to do anything until the swelling goes down so we'll have to wait. But for now, he's safe to move into another room."

Namie looked down at Izaya and brushing the hair out of his face, said, "Izaya, it's done now-"

She stopped talking and her hand paused on his forehead at the warmth it emitted, "Shinra, he has a fever."

Shinra turned around to face Namie and said, "Let's get him to a room first and then we'll take care of that."

Namie nodded and stroked Izaya's hair before pulling away and allowing Shizuo and Kyohei to move him into the guest room. Izaya slowly blinked at the lack of warmth in his hand and turned his head to locate Namie. When he did, she just smiled at him and he blinked some more. He was pulled out of the room and soon he was ambushed by two symmetrical, worried faces.

"Iza-Nii are you alright?" One of the faces asked only to be interrupted by the other, "What happened, Iza-Nii?"

Izaya stared blankly at his sisters, trying to figure out who was who. He knew he should be able to tell them apart and he felt bad that he couldn't, but no matter how hard Izaya tried he couldn't differentiate the two identical girls. He blamed it on the drugs and the pain he was forced to endure for who knows how long... Wait, how long had he been gone? Izaya searched his mind for an exact number of days he'd been gone, but he came up with nothing. Then he realized that his sisters were HERE. Which means they knew that something happened to him and that means someone had informed them.

"What idiot called my sisters?" Izaya said with no lacking amount of anger at whomever it was that decided it was a good idea to involve and worry his sisters about this.

Shinra visibly paled inside the operation room and immediately tried to hide.


	10. Family Reunion

**Here's chapter 10 of Missing! I went back a little and wrote from Mairu and Kururi's point of view for awhile. I hope that doesn't bug you too much. Please read, review, and enjoy!**

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Mairu and Kururi hated not knowing what was going on. They hated that they weren't allowed to see Izaya. As soon as their brother was brought into the apartment, Mairu and Kururi were dragged away by Erika and Walker, not even getting to look at him. Kururi acted reasonably through the whole thing, but Mairu was having a hard time accepting everything that was happening and listening to Erika and Walker. When Celty rushed out of the room 30 minutes later, everyone began to think the worst.

Mairu promptly stood up and marched over to the sobbing Celty before anyone could stop her, "What's wrong? Did something happen with Iza-Nii?"

As Mairu spoke, Kururi came up behind her and they anxiously waited for Celty's reply. When it didn't come, Kururi spoke, "Please, tell us. What happened?"

Celty just shook her head and went to sit on the couch that Erika and Walker still occupied. She pulled out her PDA and began talking to them instead. This made Mairu angry and she began to yell, but immediately stopped when she heard an agonizing scream on the other side of the operation room.

Horrified, Mairu turned to face Kururi who wore a similar expression. Softly she asked, "Was that... Iza-Nii?"

Kururi nodded and both girls bolted to the door. They pounded on the door and screamed to be let in. Erika and Walker hurried to the girls' side and started to pull them away.

"Come on, you need to let them work," Walker said calmly, but looked at the door nervously.

"That's right. IzaIza will be okay, you just need to trust Shinra. He won't let anything happen to him," Erika added, trying to get the girls to stop struggling. They didn't seem to be listening, however, and continued to try to get to the door.

"Let us go! We want to see Iza-Nii! Let us go!" Mairu screamed and started to cry while Kururi started to bite Walker's arm.

Eventually, Mairu stopped struggling against Erika and fell to the floor. She started to sob and Kururi stopped fighting as well. Seeing her sister crying, Kururi pushed past Walker and Erika to get to Mairu and hugged her tightly, letting her own silent tears fall down her face.

Mairu hugged her back and cried into her shoulder, "What are we going to do, Kure-nee? What are we going to do if Iza-Nii dies?"

Kururi strokes Mairu's hair and says, "It will be okay, Mairu. I'm sure of it. Iza-Nii will be okay."

They stayed like this until Izaya's screams stopped when Celty comes and knells next to them. She pulls out her phone and begins typing, [I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't think it was something that you should know. Let's wait for them to come out on the couch, okay?]

Kururi quickly reads Celty's message and nods. She stands up along with Mairu and they move to sit on the couch again. Erika looks at Celty with gratitude and she and Walker sit back on the couch as well. An hour later the door to the operation room finally opens and out comes Shizuo and Kyohei with Izaya on a stretcher between them. Kururi and Mairu went to him as soon as he was out of the room.

"Iza-Nii, are you alright?" Kururi began and was interrupted by Mairu.

"What happen, Iza-Nii?"

Izaya looked puzzled for a few minutes and the twins were surprised by the novelty. Suddenly, Izaya's confused face turned to one of anger.

"What idiot called my sisters?" Izaya said and, although his voice was hoarse and cracked, it did nothing to diminish the anger you could hear.

Kururi blinked a little in question before saying, "Shinra called us," not having seen him shaking his head at her.

Shinra practically fell to the floor before getting up and changing the topic to something less life threatening for him. Funny how he was still scared of what Izaya could do to him even though the man was incapable of doing anything at the moment.

"Let's not worry about that now, Izaya. We still need to get you to the guest room and take care of that fever of yours," Shinra said hurriedly and did not miss the glare that Izaya shot at him. Shizuo had to suppress a smirk at Shinra's obvious attempt to change the subject and Kyohei just shook his head.

Namie walked out of the room next and said, "He's right, Izaya. You also need rest after everything that's happened," She turned her attention to Shizuo and Kyohei and said, "We should get him to his room now."

They nodded and followed Shinra to one of his spare rooms. As they moved, Izaya looked at Namie before he concentrated back on his sisters again. He saw traces of tears in their eyes so he brought his bruised hand up and touched Mairu's face.

"It's okay now, Mairu. I'm fine, see? Your brother's stronger than that. Right, Kururi?" Izaya whispered with a smile on his face and dropped his hand.

Mairu and Kururi smiled back at him before nodding. The group finally reached the room and Shizuo and Kyohei gently placed Izaya on the bed.

"We're going to lift him on the count of three, and Shinra, you take the stretcher out from under him," Kyohei said authoritatively.

"Roger," Shinra said, preparing to take the stretcher.

"Dota-chin," Izaya started with a hint of pain and fear in his tone, "try to be careful this time, okay?"

Kadota knew exactly what he was referring to and he still felt bad about it. The last thing he wanted to do right now was cause Izaya anymore pain.

"I'll try, Izaya," Kadota finally said and looked at Shizuo. He nodded and began counting.

"One, two, three," Izaya bit is lip as they lifted him up as carefully as possible.

Through all his effort to remain quiet, Izaya couldn't stopped the small whimper that escaped his lips. Shinra quickly grabbed the stretcher and Izaya was gently placed back on the bed. Izaya breathed heavily and sweat dripped down his face. Shinra and Kadota moved away from the bed and stood in the middle of the room.

Shizuo looked concernedly at Izaya before asking, "Oi, are you okay?"

Izaya took a moment to catch his breath before replying, "Just fine, Shizu-chan. And you?"

Shizuo glared and ignored the question as Mairu and Kururi entered the room, followed by Namie. The twins went onto the left side of the bed and sat next to Izaya as Namie came to the right with a wet towel. Carefully, Namie placed the towel on Izaya's forehead and pulled out a chair.

Izaya touched the towel and said, "What's this for?"

Namie raised an eyebrow at him curiously, saying, "It's for your fever Izaya."

"Fever?" Izaya asked as he tried to think and Namie smiled softly and nodded.

Izaya's thoughts drifted to darker events, but he quickly shook them away, not wanting to think of his unending torture. Instead, Izaya decided to ask something that had been on his mind for a while.

"Namie, how long have I've been gone?"

Namie started and quickly answer his question, "A week. You've been gone for a week Izaya."

"A week, huh," Izaya removed his hand from his head, "It felt like a lot longer than that."

The room was filled with a melancholy atmosphere and no one knew how to break it. As Izaya started to put his arm down all the way, Kururi spotted something silver on Izaya's finger. Kururi grabbed Izaya's hand gently and pulled it towards her. Izaya turned his head to face her and Kururi quietly spoke, "You still have the ring we gave you."

"Let me see," Mairu said and Kururi showed her, "Hey, you're right! Where's the other one Iza-Nii?"

Izaya thought for a minute and looked back at Namie, "Where's my other arm, Namie?" Once he finished saying those words, to the other occupants of the room it felt like the world just froze over with ice.

Instead of Namie, it was Shinra who spoke, "Um, Izaya, about that..."

Shinra couldn't finish his sentence and trailed off. He looked down at his feet as if afraid to say any more. Shizuo chose to speak in his place.

"It's gone, Izaya. Shinra couldn't reattach your arm because of all the damage done to it. You won't ever have that arm again."

Izaya was quiet for a minute. He just blinked at Shizuo, and Kyohei waited to see his reaction once it sunk in. He wasn't sure what Izaya would do and he worried about what he would do. Izaya's life would become harder now that he only had one arm to rely on.

After another minute, Izaya started to talk, "That's not what I asked. I want to know where it is. You do have it don't you?"

Shinra gaped and said, "Well yes, but... I don't think you understand what we just told you."

"I understand it perfectly well, Shinra. Now can you get my arm?" Izaya said slowly and everyone could tell that he was tired.

Without saying anything further, Shinra left to do as Izaya asked. Everyone else continued to stare in surprise at Izaya. Finally, Kadota decided to break the silence, "Are you sure you're okay with it?"

"Even if I wasn't, Dota-chin, there's nothing I can do to change it so there's really no point in worrying about it," Izaya was starting to have difficulties keeping his eyes open and when Shinra returned Izaya was almost about to fall asleep.

"Izaya," Shinra shook him lightly to get his attention, and when he opened his eyes, Shinra continued, "I brought your arm for you."

"There's a ring," Izaya started tiredly, "on my index finger. Get it for me?"

Shinra did what Izaya asked and handed the ring to Izaya. As soon as it was in Izaya's hand, he fell asleep. Kururi and Mairu stayed on Izaya's bed and fell asleep next to him and everyone else left the room. They joined Erika, Walker, and Celty in the living room and everyone just sat quietly, thinking about the day's events.

Eventually, Namie got tired of the silent and stood up, "I'm going to make some food. I doubt that they feed Izaya at all and he's bound to be hungry when he wakes up."

Having nothing better to do and needing something to distract themselves, Erika and Celty decided to help her.

That left Walker, Kadota, Shizuo, and Shinra to sit in silence. Saburo had left as soon as he dropped the rest of the Van Gang off due to other business so that meant that everyone was stuck here at least until tomorrow. Not that that really mattered. Everyone was so worried about Izaya that they wouldn't have left even if the had a car.

Shinra looked over at Shizuo and abruptly said, "Shizuo, tell me what you saw when you first found Izaya."

Shizuo snapped his head towards Shinra, surprised by his sudden demand, but he answered anyway, "When Vorona and I were looking for Izaya, we encountered around 20 men in the warehouse he was being kept. It was as if they were keeping guard or something."

Shizuo paused and took out a cigarette before continuing, "After beating and tying up the men, we found another room. When we went inside most of the room was covered in Izaya's blood. Pipes, various knives, and a chainsaw, all stained with blood. If you can believe it, Izaya even begged us not to leave him there. He didn't care whether I killed him or not, he just didn't want us to leave him hanging like he was."

"Hanging?!" Shinra asked horrified, "What do you mean?"

Shizuo crushed his unsmoked cigarette and answered angrily, "He was hanging from the ceiling by the chains you found around his neck and wrist."

Eyes still wide in horror, Shinra looked over at Kyohei, "Did you see any of this, Kyohei?"

Kadota shook his head stiffly, "No, the only thing I noticed was Izaya. I didn't have much time to focus on anything else."

Shinra sighed, "Now, the question is: what exactly did they want from him?"


	11. The Beginnings of a Nightmare

**Okay~ sorry for such a late update. I'm been a little busy recently. Here's Chapter 11 off Missing. Please read, review, and enjoy!**

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The news of Izaya's arm effected him more than he let on. He was devastated to know that he would never have that arm again, but it wasn't as though he hadn't figured as much. Still, suspecting and being right are two different things. And he really wished he wasn't right.

In order to prevent anyone from noticing his distress, Izaya acted like it didn't matter. Everyone was shocked at his apparent disregard for his missing arm. Judging from their expressions, Izaya assumed they were excepting some sort of negative reaction from him. There were completely unaware of his internal struggle regarding his limb. He knew his life was going to be that much harder.

That made Izaya wonder how he was going to live his life now as he started to drift off to sleep. Having one arm will make his work difficult, especially since he likes to get himself into dangerous situations. Now he had everyone worrying about him, and that just wouldn't do. He didn't like to be coddled and that was no doubt what they were planning to do. They were going to treat him like some wounded animal who needed help. Izaya didn't need any help. Not that he would admit to anyway.

His thoughts then turned to Namie. He hadn't expected to see her so... worried. He also hadn't expected her to act all nice to him. He vaguely wondered if it was some sort of trick, but quickly pushed the thought away. Namie had looked to genuine to be trying to trick him. That led Izaya to wonder why. Why did she look so concerned for him when she hated him? Izaya couldn't think of any plausible answer to that question.

Izaya was so tired and as he was about to fall into a deeper sleep he abruptly felt Shinra shake him awake. He opened his eyes slightly and Shinra put something in his hand before he finally fell into a restless sleep. He relived his torture in nightmares, as he knew he would, and he couldn't break away from it. He remembered every single, agonizing second of it to the last detail. And he would never forget the faces of those involved.

_They first captured Izaya when he was heading to his apartment complex last Monday morning. He was walking through an alley and the only other occupant was some High School student. He knew everything about the kid: where he lived, what he did in his free time, who his friends were, everything. Izaya didn't see him as a threat and didn't pay much attention to him. And that was a big mistake. _

_He was caught off guard when the kid suddenly attacked him. He didn't see it coming until there was a knife digging into his right side. Before Izaya could do anything to retaliate, someone came up behind him and hit on the head with a metal pipe, knocking him out. As he fell to the ground, blood seeped from his head and side._

_The next thing he remembered was waking up to his legs breaking with a loud CRACK! And then he was screaming. He screamed like he never screamed before was they kept hitting him over and over. Izaya's screams were brusquely cut off when someone's foot slammed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He coughed violently until blood came up._

_Izaya heard foot steps coming towards him and looked in that direction. He certainly wasn't expecting who he saw._

_"Izaya," the figure said and stopped in front of Izaya, "how does it feel to be on the other side of the bat?"_

_The figure nodded to the group of people around Izaya and just like that he was being pummeled with pipes again._

Izaya woke with a start to see Kururi and Mairu looking back at him with concern. He was breathing heavily and was covered with a thin layer of sweat. He blinked the sweat out of his eyes before turning to look at the worried faces of his sisters.

"Are you okay, Iza-Nii?" Kururi questioned as she leaned closer to him.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Mairu said, climbing over Kururi to get a good look at Izaya.

Izaya took a minute to catch his breath and tried to put on a smile, "No, I'm fine. There's noting to worry about. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Kururi asked and pushed Mairu off of her to sit up. "Ow, Kure-nee!"

Izaya nodded and Kururi grabbed his hand. Once she did, she realized that Izaya was still holding onto the ring Shinra had given the night before. She carefully took the ring out of his hand and examined it.

"You still have the rings after all these years," she said quietly, "I'd thought you would have thrown them away by now."

Izaya looked thoughtfully at Kururi, saying, "I wouldn't have done that. These are the only presents I've ever gotten form you two. It would be a waste to get rid of them."

Both girls looked at him in surprise. They hadn't thought that Izaya cared enough about them to keep anything they'd given him.

"So, you're saying you like them?" Mairu asked with wide, hopeful eyes.

Izaya smiled and said, "Of course I do."

Kururi and Mairu smiled brightly back at him, happy that Izaya liked their gift. Kururi then put the ring on his ring finger and grabbed his hand again. Izaya squeezed her hand slightly before a thought came to him, "Kururi, what time is it?"

"Time?"

She blinked at him and turned to Mairu for an answer. Mairu obediently pulled out her cell phone and proceeded to tell them the time, "It's 7am, why?"

"7:00," he said almost exasperatedly, "shouldn't you girls be heading to school by now?"

Mairu and Kururi looked at him like he was crazy.

"School? Are you serious, Iza-Nii? You want us to go to school at a time like this?" Mairu said incredulously as she gave Izaya a weak glare.

"We're not leaving," Kururi stated with the same expression as her twin.

Namie came in carrying a tray full of food and a glass of water just as Izaya said, "Yes you are. If you don't, I'll make sure that you will not be able to visit me again."

This caused Namie to pause just inside the doorway and Kururi and Mairu shared an identical look of horror. The twins opened and closed their mouths repeatedly, not sure what to say before Mairu found her words.

"You wouldn't do that! You can't!"

"I can and will. Now, go to school. Have Erika and Walker take you," Izaya said and smirked at their pouting face.

They begrudgingly got off the bed and made to leave the room. Kururi turned one last time and said, "We'll be back, Iza-Nii. See you soon."

They walked away, passing a slightly curious Namie and asked Walker and Erika to take them to school. Kadota, being the caring person that he was, offered to go with them and they were gone. Izaya watched as they left his room and noticed Namie for the first time. As soon as he laid his eyes on Namie, a giant smile adorned his face and he ignored the sounds of his sisters outside the room.

"Namie, good morning! You're looking lovely this morning."

Namie raised her eyebrow and set the tray on the nightstand before answering, "I can't say the same about you, Izaya. You look awful."

Izaya frowns playfully, replying, "Aw, Namie. Must you be so mean to me?"

Namie ignored him, opting to ask him something instead, "Can you sit up?"

Izaya frowned slightly and attempted to push himself up, but when he tried to do so, a sharp pain went up and down his arm. He winced and ceased his attempts. He smiled sheepishly at Namie and said, "Afraid not. I don't seem to have the energy for it at the moment."

"Here, I'll help you," Namie stood next to him and put her arm under his back and arm, hoisting him up as carefully as she could. However, her efforts were proven to be in vain when Izaya let out a small whimper. "Sorry," she whispered softly and pulled back once he was in the upright position.

She grabbed the glass of water and presented it to him, "Drink this. It will help."

She lifted the glass to his lips and helped him drink it. As soon as the water touched his tongue, Izaya swallowed it in large gulps, bringing his own hand up to the glass. He choked down water like it was air and didn't notice as water dripped down his chin. He drank it as though his life depended on it. and it probably was when Namie's suspicions were confirmed. Izaya hadn't had anything to eat or drink since he was gone.

She hastily pulled the glass away, saying, "Slow down, Izaya. You going to choke." As if to prove her point, Izaya started to cough.

"See," she stated with a smirk, "I told you so."

Izaya gave her a weak glare as his coughs subsided and said,

Why do you care, anyway? What about Seiji?"

Namie's smirk froze on her face. She had been so worried about Izaya since he arrived that she hadn't even thought about her precious Seiji. She had said that she would give up on him, but she hadn't excepted for it to be so easy. Maybe, what she felt for her brother wasn't the kind of love she thought it was.

Izaya, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the staring and the silence, changed the topic, "Where's Shinra?"

"He's in the other room with Shizuo," Namie stated simply and sat in a chair next to Izaya's bed.

Izaya looked at her, perplexed, "Shizu-chan's still here?"

"Yes," she said and thought for a minute, "I don't know why though."

"And Celty? Where is she?" Izaya asked curiously.

"I believe 'she' is on one of those courier jobs of hers," Namie said with slight disdain as she talked about the headless woman.

Izaya nodded and sat for a moment before Namie interrupted his thoughts with, "Izaya, here's some food. You should eat."

He looked at it for a moment and a brief expression of disgust appeared on his face before it quickly vanished, "I don't want it. I'm not hungry."

Shizuo, who had apparently been standing in the doorway, walked into the room with Shinra in tow, and said, "Don't give me that, Izaya. You haven't eaten in, what, seven days? There's no way you're not hungry."

Izaya didn't look at Shizuo and laid back down, saying, "It's none of your business, Shizu-chan. Why don't you go visit your girlfriend instead of worrying about me."

Shizuo's face shifted into one of anger. He quickly pushed it down and sat at the foot of Izaya's bed, "Whatever. Are you going to tell us what happened now or are you still being stubborn?"

Izaya didn't answer Shizuo and turned away from him. Shinra walked closer to Izaya, "Izaya, please. We want to help you."

"When can I go home?" Izaya looked at Shinra and he knew that Izaya had no intention of answering their earlier question.

Sighing, Shinra looked at Izaya with a withered look and said, "You can go home in a few days, but I'll have to check up on you at least two times a week."

"Great!" he said with forced happiness, "I'd like to be alone now, if you don't mind."

They looked at him with slight suspicion at his sudden attempt to push him away, but went to leave anyway. Namie started to get up from her chair to leave as well when Izaya's hand stopped her.

"You don't have to go, if you don't want to," Izaya said softly with an almost desperate undertone hidden in his voice, though his eyes betrayed nothing.

Surprised and not knowing what to do, Namie sat back down and held Izaya's hand as he started to drift off into sleep again.

Izaya knew that Namie only cared about Seiji, but he was content with the knowledge that she was here for him now, when he needed her most.


	12. The First Step of Healing

**Here's chapter 12 of Missing. It's longer than usual, so I hope that makes you happy. I apologize in advanced if Celty is out of character, or anyone else for that matter. It's mostly in Celty's point of view and I'm not used to writing Celty, so I hope i did a good job. Please read, review, and enjoy the story! Also, Feel free to tell me what I could do better as well.**

* * *

Celty had to get out of the apartment. She couldn't stay there. She couldn't stand seeing Izaya that way, all pale and sick looking. It just wasn't right. Izaya wasn't supposed to be lying in a bed like that. He was supposed to be running around Ikebukuro, ruining lives, manipulating gangs, planning wars, and causing problems that were sometimes unfixable. It broke her heart to see someone as vivacious as Izaya looking so... lifeless. Celty found it hard believe that this was the same man she had so despised not 22 hours ago. So, in order to get her mind off things, Celty distracted herself with the courier jobs Izaya used to provide her with and left the blasted building. Still, work could only last so long and at 12 the next the morning, she found herself back in front of her apartment door.

Celty stood there frozen for a few seconds before hesitantly reaching for the door handle. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to see her apartment the same as it always had been. She let of a sigh of relief and her shoulders relaxed from their previously tense posture. Celty hadn't known what she was expecting exactly or why she was so reluctant to enter the room, but she was relieved nonetheless. Maybe she was expecting to see the ground soaked in crimson blood or hear Izaya's agonizing screams. Whatever the case, she was glad that none of that was present here.

After calming down, Celty shut the door behind her and walked farther into the room. When she reached the living room, Celty spotted Shizuo and decided to sit next to him.

[How's Izaya doing? Has he woken up yet?] Celty typed into her PDA and showed it to Shizuo.

He eyed it for a minute and turned away, pulling out a cigarette in the process, "Che, yeah. The stupid flea was awake for a while a few hours ago, but I think he might still be sleeping. "

Noticing that Shizuo didn't answer her first question, Celty tried a different approach, [How did he look? Did he say anything?]

Shizuo glares a bit, not liking the topic of conversation, but answers anyway, "I don't know. He looked normal, I guess. And tired, really tired, though he tried to hide it." Shizuo stopped and thought a bit before continuing. "Izaya still refuses to tell us what happened. When we asked about it, he avoided the question and kicked us out. We didn't get to talk much."

Celty was surprised at this. Now she was really curious. Why was Izaya so adamant about keeping everything a secret? What was he hiding?

Hesitantly, Celty asked one more question, [Do you think I can go see him?]

She wasn't quite sure why she asked this. She wasn't even sure that she WANTED to see Izaya. She was scared to see him. She was scared of what see might see, but at the same time, something COMPELLED her to go see him.

"I don't know!" Shizuo growled, "Why don't you ask that secretary of his? She's been in the room with him this entire time."

As soon as the words left Shizuo's mouth, Namie came walking out of Izaya's room. Celty stood up and walked over to Namie. As she got closer, Namie noticed her approaching and stared at her with a carefully blank face.

Seeing her expression, or lack of one, Celty decided to skip small talk and go straight to the point.

[Can I see Izaya?]

Namie started at her bluntness; her eyes widened a tad in surprise and her brows furrowed in slight curiosity. Celty wasn't usually one for being abrut, she was typically more subtle than that.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Namie said slowly, trying to figure out what Celty wanted.

[Is he still sleeping?]

"Well no, but..."

[Then what's the problem?] Celty interrupted. She knew that Namie didn't like her very much and decided that she needed to be more forcefully than usual.

Namie narrowed her eyes at Celty and spoke slowly and coldly to her as if she was a small child who deeply irritated her, "I'm not sure Izaya wants to see ANYONE at the moment. Let alone YOU."

It was Celty's turn to be irritated, [What do you mean, "let alone ME"? Izaya's enjoys my company!]

The black smoke from Celty's neck exploded and knocked her helmet off her head, causing Shizuo to look her way and Shinra to pop his head out of the kitchen. Namie paid no mind to them.

"Yes, I'm sure he usually does, but today..." Namie trailed off and biting her lower lip, looked over to the door she had just come out of.

Celty noticed Namie's sudden change in tone and expression and realized something. Namie was just as scared for Izaya as she was. Namie didn't want anything more to happen to him and was worried that if she let Celty see him, something in Izaya would break. Yes, Namie was just as frightened as Celty was; she was just better at hiding it.

Celty puts her hand on Namie's shoulder to get her attention before pleading, [Please, just let me see him. If he doesn't want to talk, I'll leave him alone. I just need to see him for myself; make sure he's still alive.]

Namie fixes her gaze on Celty in a contemplative manner and nods shortly while biting her lip again, "Okay, but only for a little bit. He still needs his rest. Can you wait here for a minute? I need to get something first."

Celty's shadow moved up in down gratefully in what could be considered a nod and waited for Namie return. When she did, Namie was holding a black cloth. Celty looked at it curiously, and Namie, seeming to sense her puzzlement, elaborated, "They're clothes for Izaya. His last shirt is torn and covered in blood, and he's currently not wearing one. His pants aren't much better. I thought he'd appreciate the clean clothes, if nothing else."

Celt continued to look at the gray sweatshirt; black knee-length sweatpants; and black boxer shorts, vaguely wondering where she got it them. She didn't think Shinra owned such a thing.

After a minute, she nodded once again, and followed Namie through the door as she opened it. When they walked in, Celty was pleased to find that Izaya looked less pale than before... well, sort of. If you included all of his bruises. The rest of his skin was still as white as the bandages covering them. The point was that he didn't look as... DEAD as he did the night before.

Celty found it difficult to look at Izaya's absent arm socket for more then a few seconds without feeling the urge to cry all over again. It was hard for her to accept that there was nothing Shinra could have done for him. Celty hated being so helpless to do anything for the frail man. She could see now why Namie had gotten him a shirt.

Izaya was sitting up in bed, staring blankly at his lap when they walked into the room. He didn't bother looking up at them and seemed not to notice their presence at all until Namie gently brushed the hair from his face. He blinked in surprise before facing the woman and smiling widely at her. Celty mentally winced at how obviously forced and painful the smile was for him and briefly wondered who he was trying to fool. Them... or himself.

"Namie, I thought you were leaving to get something," Izaya stately pleasantly, but Celty could tell that that, too, took some great deal of effort on his part. Still, she was glad that he still had the energy to try, even if it wasn't the least bit convincing and worried her deeply.

Namie smiled weakly and Celty knew that she could see, or rather, hear it too. "I was and I did," she says as she presents the clothes to him and continues to talk, "and then I ran into Celty on the way. She wanted to see how you were doing."

Izaya turned to face Celty and looked as if he had just realized she was there. His smile slipped a bit when he laid eyes on her. Izaya almost appeared as though he wanted to send her away immediately, but instead of words banishment, he spoke invitingly.

"Celty, I haven't seen you in awhile. Why don't you have a seat?"

Celty hesitantly walked farther into the room and stood next to the end of his bed, ignoring his offer of a seat. Suddenly she didn't think this was such a good idea. Now that she was here, she couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't upset him. Celty briefly looked around the guest room and on the dresser, she noticed Izaya's untouched food.

She quickly wrote on her PDA, hoping that her concern showed through her message, [You haven't eaten anything yet. You must be starving.]

Izaya sighed softly and pulled his covers up around him little more as if they could provide him some sort of protection from Celty's next words, "What do you want, Celty?"

'Well, that didn't work,' Celty thought, disappointed that he had avoided her attempt at making the conversation easier.

[Shizuo tells me that you won't tell anyone what happened. I want you to tell me why. Are you scared of something? What has you so afraid you won't talk to us? ... are you hurting inside, Izaya?] Celty spoke as gently as she possibly could when speaking through a text. Izaya didn't take it well.

"Since when have I ever given information away for free? And I'm not scared of anything," Izaya muttered angrily, turning his face away from them to glare at the wall on his right, "I'm perfectly fine."

But they could tell he was lying. They could see it in his eyes; the fear he was trying so hard to hide, and the pain. They could see that it was unbearable for him, both physically and emotionally, no matter how much they wished they couldn't.

Namie cautiously brought her hand up and placed it on top of Izaya's head, drawing his attention back to her. She slid her hand through his raven locks, bringing it down slowly until she was cupping his cheek. Namie watched Izaya look at her with confusion and curiosity as she repeatedly ran her thumb across his cheekbone before softly asking, "Are you really fine?"

Izaya's crimson eyes widened a fraction and Namie's arms carefully wrapped themselves around his neck, pulling him into her warm embrace. One of her hands slipped back through his silky hair while the other hug him closely to herself. Memories of the last few days flashed in his mind and for reasons he could not comprehend, Izaya felt a burning sensation at the back of his eyes. Before he knew it there were tears leaking down his stoic face. He didn't understand why he was crying and he quickly buried his face into Namie's shoulder to hide his tears. And although he tried to stop it, a small sob managed to escape his lips. He immediately slammed his hand over his mouth and attempted to stifle the sobs.

"Don't do that, Izaya," Namie murmured gently as she coursed her fingers through his hair, "it's okay to cry."

And cry he did.

He removed his hand from his mouth and held onto Namie desperately as he continued to cry. Celty stood on the sidelines, completely at a loss of what to do. She had never expected to see the day when Izaya Orihara cried. Especially not like this, not so full of pain and anguish, and there was nothing see could do, but watch as everything she thought she knew about Izaya shattered right before her eyes.

As his sobs grew louder, the sound reverberated throughout the apartment and it wasn't long before Shizuo and Shinra came popping in. And just like Celty, they didn't know what to do. They were terrified at the prospect that something terrible had happened to Izaya to make him break down when nothing else had before. And to see him holding onto some else so helplessly made them wonder if Izaya was really as strong as he pretended to be. This thought made Shizuo even more determined to find who had done this to his nemesis. It angered him deeply. He would get the answers eventually, no matter, but for now, he would let Izaya cry in peace.

After another minute, the sobs died down and Izaya stopped crying. Still, he didn't pull away from Namie's arms and continued to let her hold him as he caught his breath and worked to banish all remaining thoughts on his torture. It wasn't until she spoke that Izaya was brought back to reality.

Still holding him tight, Namie quipped, "Are you up for a bath? Because, to be honest, you really stink."

This enticed a small chuckle from Izaya and he finally pulled away from Namie, "Yes, actually. I was beginning to think the same thing."

Izaya looked up at Namie and noticed that there were other people in the room. He quickly realized that they had probably been there while he was crying, but shook it off and pretended it never happened. After all, why would Izaya allow them the satisfaction of seeing him cry AND see him embarrassed and/or angry about it?

He put a smile on his face and directed his question at Shinra, "Shinra, do you, by any chance, have a wheelchair we could use? I'd hate to make this harder on Namie then it has to be."

Celty, Shinra, and Shizuo looked at Izaya shocked. If they hadn't been there to witness the whole thing, they probably would have never believed that Izaya had been crying just a minute ago. Now, he was acting like the whole thing didn't happen. They had expected him to be upset with them for watching, not smiling and acting oblivious. Sometimes, they just didn't understand Izaya.

Shinra composed himself by clearing his throat and replied with, "Um, couldn't you just have Shizuo carry you to the bathroom?"

Izaya's face suddenly darkened, but his smile was still in place, giving Shinra the creeps, "You are joking, aren't you, Shin~ra?" Izaya's voice developed a dangerous tone to it at the end that Shinra couldn't hope to ignore.

"O-of course, Izaya. It was just a joke! I-I'll go get that wheelchair now," Shinra stammered nervously and disappeared out the door.

Celty looked back after him and texted, [I'll go help him.], leaving to follow Shinra.

Shizuo watched the two leave, muttering under his breath, "Che, not even asking me first before volunteering my help."

"What was that, Shizu-chan?" Izaya said, not even trying to hide his annoyance at Shizuo's presence.

Shizuo was about to yell back something profane, but the image of Izaya crying appearing in his head stopped him, "Nothing, flea, just nothing."

Izaya was about to say something else when Shinra and Celty came charging in with the wheelchair.

"Here, Izaya. One wheelchair ready to go!" Shinra stated cheerfully while Celty put the chair next to the bed.

"Oh! I almost forgot, you need to take more painkillers!" Shinra grabbed a bottle from the nightstand and continued happily, "It'd be bad if they suddenly wore off. You'd be in a considerably amount of pain without them."

Izaya looked at him skeptically as he took the pills, warily asking, "Why do you sound so happy saying that?"

Shinra just continued to smile as Izaya downed the two pills and replied, "It's been so tense recently, I thought I'd liven it up!"

"Are you crazy?" Shizuo asked, wearing the same expression as Izaya was earlier.

"Isn't that obvious? He's friends with you people after all," Namie says while Shizuo growls at her and turns her attention to Izaya, "Are you ready? I'll help to the bath."

Izaya smiled slightly and nodded. Namie made to help Izaya in the chair, but Shinra stopped her, "Wait, Namie. Let Shizuo do that instead. It would be easier for him."

"Would you stop volunteering me already?!" Shizuo growls.

"Oh, come on, you don't mind!" Shinra says, brimming with confidence before Celty stuffs her PDA in his face.

As they start to argue Namie ignores them and decides it will be faster just to help him herself. She pulls Izaya's arm over her head, helping him into the wheelchair with some effort, being careful not to bump his wounds. When she carefully set him down, she grabs his clothes she brought in earlier from the nightstand and places them on his lap.

[Shinra, I think he really does. Maybe you should leave him alone.] Celty say with concern.

"It's fine, Celty. Besides, he carried Izaya here in the first place!" Shinra brushed off her concern.

"That was different!-" Shizuo starts to say.

"Can you move please?" Namie asks as she pushes the wheelchair with Izaya in it towards the door.

"When?-" Shinra tries to ask, but Namie interrupts again.

"I did it when you three were arguing, now please move."

Shinra blinks and stares at her, moving out of the way when Izaya smirks and says, "Namie's very efficient in everything she does. She likes to get things done fast and effectively even if it means doing it herself."

Shinra stood dumbfounded as Namie passed them and headed for the bathroom. Shinra suddenly snapped out of his trance and followed them, "Izaya, try not to hurt yourself and keep as much water away from your wounds as you can! Don't bump your legs on anything! That could be bad. Oh, you'll need help, won't you? Shizuo or I could..."

"I can bathe on my own, thank you very much!" Izaya hissed angrily with a death glare and slammed the bathroom door closed after him.

Namie, Celty, and Shizuo glared at Shinra as he looked cluelessly forward.

"What?"

Shizuo promptly hit Shinra on the head and walked away angrily.

* * *

**Have you ever noticed that it's harder to hold in your tears when someone hugs you?**


End file.
